Legislative Proposal Background and Figures on Institutionalisation

The number
of children benefiting from alternative care – such as foster care or
guardianship – grew from 0 to 38,000 by the end of December 2013. As a result, Romania’s
rate of institutionalised children is now at 600/100,000 (ranking in the middle
of the pack in Central and Eastern Europe). 735 children under 3 years of age still
live in institutions. Almost 1/3 of them have been identified as children with
disabilities.

In the
past 60 years, many studies have documented the importance of the first three
years of life for the child’s cognitive, psychological, emotional and mental
development. The events a child experiences during the prenatal period and in the
first months and years of life may have lifelong effects.

Research indicates that every three months a child
spends in an institution delay his or her physical development by one month. Young
children need one-on-one interaction with a sensitive parental figure attending
to their needs, a figure they grow attached to and feel safe with.

In
December 2012, UNICEF organised a regional conference on the topic of banning
the institutionalisation of children under three years of age, with many
participating countries from the region which undertook to implement
appropriate measures.

Last year,
on the Universal Children’s Day, UNICEF and the Chamber of Deputies held a
debate where Gabriela Coman, then president of the Federation of
Nongovernmental Organizations for Children (FONPC) and the current president of
National Authority for Child Protection and Adoption (ANPDCA), suggested that institutionalisation
of children under three years of age should be banned (Romania banned the institutionalisation
of children under two ten years ago, in 2004). Deputy Gabriela Podașcă picked
up the idea and drafted a legislative proposal, supported by over 60 Members of
Parliament from all political parties, which was endorsed by the Senate and by
the Labour Committee of the Chamber of Deputies. The proposal will be put to
the vote this autumn when the parliamentary session resumes.

The
revision of the law sends out a strong message: children are a priority and
Romania remains a leading country in the region as regards the implementation
of key reforms for vulnerable children.

Following UNICEF’s
Regional Conference, if the law is passed this autumn, Romania will be the
first country to meet this commitment (at regional level, only Croatia and
Serbia have banned it). The revision of the law is in line with the latest EU
and international recommendations.

“UNICEF will support the National Authority
for the Protection of Child Rights in implementing this law at national and
local levels, starting from January 2015, so that no child is found in
traditional institutional care by 2020”, said Sandie Blanchet, UNICEF Representative
in Romania.

This law
will make another example of good practice for the protection of vulnerable
children that Romania will share with other countries in Europe and not only.

Furthermore,
UNICEF calls for greater investment in social services at local level to
prevent the unnecessary separation of children from their families. Local and
international experiences provide evidence that having a social worker in each community,
often along with a nurse and a school mediator, can help protect children’s
rights.